The Power of Group Attachment (Oxford)

Attachment is a primary instinctual force for meaningful human connectedness, as essential for our physical and emotional survival as food and sex. John Bowlby (‘father’ of the theory) conceived the human mind as a social phenomenon. He proposed that healthy attachment evolves from the cradle to the grave, from the family group to increasingly larger and more sophisticated group configurations.

The application of attachment principles to group analysis, to wider psychotherapy practice and to organisations can enhance the quality of care and support to all – fostering environments where learning, emotional growth and wellbeing are cultivated.

This conference will be open to anyone who is interested in groups, relationships, organisational life and personal development. Space for further thinking and reflection will be provided in small and large discussion groups.

Arturo Ezquerro, a group analyst, consultant psychiatrist, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist, is senior lecturer at the Institute of Group Analysis and author of Encounters with John Bowlby: Tales of Attachment (Routledge). Bowlby was his supervisor and his mentor at the Tavistock Clinic (1984-1990).